Power Outage To Keep City Offices, WSU Closed Friday

DETROIT (WWJ) – A power failure in downtown Detroit will keep the Coleman A Young Municipal Center and Wayne State University closed Friday. The outage, which occurred Thursday afternoon, stretches from Wayne State into downtown.

Mayoral spokeswoman Karen Dumas told WWJ’s Gary Lundy late Thursday that the building will remain closed Friday. City employees are not required to report to work, according to Dumas. She said three tie lines have failed meaning there is no power at city buildings, for traffic lights and some schools.

Also closed Friday will be the Wayne County Probate Court at the CAYMC. A statement from the court said the “Probate Court anticipates reopening on Monday, June 13 at 8:00 a.m.”

A message posted on the Wayne State University website said due to the power outage the main campus would be closed and all classes cancelled Friday.

WWJ’s Lance Howard reported traffic lights were out stretching from I-94 to Jefferson Ave. and from the Lodge Freeway to I-75.

WWJ’s Florence Walton reports police and fire crews were at city hall when the power grid went down around 2:30 Thursday afternoon. The Coleman A Young Municipal Center, which houses city offices and some Wayne County Courts, were evacuated. According to Dumas, the Detroit Medical Center (DMC) does have power.

Wayne State University canceled classes for Thursday evening because they have no power in some buildings. Wayne County Community College District’s downtown campus and administration building also lost power.

The Detroit People mover suspended service at 2:30 p.m. Thursday due to a loss of power in its downtown service area.

WWJ’s Pat Sweeting spoke with Wayne County employee Evette Pettiford who was working at the Frank Murphy Hall of Justice when she heard word of the spreading blackout at about 3 p.m..

“I don’t think we quite believed them until the power actually went out and we were all sitting there in the dark. And then they came over with the loudspeakers in maybe about fifteen minutes and told us that we had to leave,” said Pettiford, adding that she was grateful she only had to walk down a few flights of stairs.

“Thank goodness, just four … it was fine. I don’t have the best knees in the world, but I made it. It was good. They had police officers there with flashlights,” she said.

So, what caused the power failure?

Chris Brown, Detroit’s Chief Operating Officer, said the problems were created by tie lines — the lines that connect DTE with the city’s office buildings.

“We’ve historically had some issues on those tie lines. One of them went out last night. We were helped by DTE. Two of them when out this afternoon, so, we’re working on it right now,” he said.

The second line went out at 1:40 p.m.; the third at about 1:55 p.m., after which everything went dark.

Brown said it’s all because of the heat.

DTE Energy is assisting in restoring the power, which was expected to take 24 hours.

Is this the same city that wastes water because dumb &^%$ open hydrants, and then charge the suburbs an exorbiant rate? Yes, it is!
Also, how does a situation help an all electric car that needs charging? I’m just sayin’.

I certainly hope they restore the power before nightfall.
Without any power and working lights, anti-social punks (you know who I am talking about) will be running around the city raising hell and no one will be able to see them coming.

The power goes out in a section of Detroit and all the racist nut jobs, who probably haven’t been to Detroit in decades crawl out of the woodwork to put in their useless two cents. Let’s see, in the section without power we have the DIA, WSU, DMC, the Wright Museum, the Science Center, CCS, MOCAD, the main branch of the Detroit Public LIbrary, countless restaurants and shops, Cobo Hall, Municipal Buildings and thousands of people who live and/or work in the area. I am one of them. Does DPL (Lighting Dept.) function well? No. Does this mean there is nothing worthwhile in Detroit and that people are running around looting and killing people? Uh, no. You know, we’ve all heard the dumb jokes about Detroit, and they aren’t funny, they’re just tired. Put some clothes on, get out of your parent’s basement and contribute to society inside of sniping from behind your lap top about things you really don’t know anything about.

Well I would not be too concerned your fearless leader Obama says we don’t need coal or gas electric plants! If fact Obama said that a coal will be taxed out of exsistamce! So grab those church pew fans and start waving!!!

The important thing is the WHITE HOUSE – Capital buildings are lit and nice and COOL —as are their limos / a 73% increase in last 3 yrs. Detroit destroyed by GREED – outsourcing – other countries supply HEALTH CARE/ how can a business compete? Don’t worry –BILLIONS upon billions are being spent in Iraq and Afghanistan blowing up their infrastructure and then giving billions to thugs like Halliburton to REBUILD —Its a shame that when blacks were in charge Conyers/ Kilpatrick etc they ripped off the people same as the white folks. Color of GREED is GREEN.

Dude, do you reply on every CBS story ever posted?? I saw this same batch of garbage on an article about Joplin tornado survivors having a deadly fungal infection. Methinks that someone needs to either get a life, a clue, or buy a vowel.